Transit and Universal Accessibility

Compliance with accessibility guidelines 

With more than 130 agency partners, Transit has been audited for WCAG complaince many times. We have extensive processes to test the app for any regressions as new features or bug fixes are made. On request, we are happy to share our WCAG accessibility reports. 

Currently, Transit conforms to WCAG 2.0 Level A and Level AA, and meets the guidelines of WCAG 2.1 A and AA. We are undergoing an Accessibility Conformance Review for WCAG 2.2 AA and EN 301 549 standards, including for universal best practices for inclusive design. 

Transit goes beyond guidelines to ensure real-time departure information and trip planning is accessible to all users, with an intuitive, user-friendly design at its core. 

This page covers: 

• Accessibility information displayed in-app  
• Accessibility features
  • Transit's accessible trip planner  
  • GO Mode 
  • Screen readers 

Mobility accessibility 

Transit displays wheelchair accessibility information for individual stops and vehicles when provided this data by the agency. From the main screen, users can distinguish whether the approaching vehicle coming to a stop is accessible, and whether the closest station or stop to their location is accessible. 

The route details screen indicates which stops along the route are wheelchair accessible, and the schedule screen indicates whether the upcoming departures from a rider's closest stop are accessible vehicles.

Accessibility features  

In addition to the core implementation of WCAG standards, including support of TalkBack and VoiceOver, Transit has developed two features that are powerful in helping achieve usability for people with accessibility needs: our accessible trip planner, and our “GO” functionality. 

Accessible trip planner 

Transit offers a complete step-free-trip option in our trip planner. Users can turn on accessibility information in two places in the User Profile, in the "On the sidewalk" section, and further down in "Preferences," in the "Settings and accessibility" section.

"On the sidewalk"

In "On the sidewalk," Transit provides riders with the ability to define their own walking (or rolling in a wheelchair) speed, from 1.25 MPH up to 3.75 MPH. This parameter then governs the impact of the “prioritize walking” user-defined parameter, which enables users to select a walking-priority parameter based on their defined walk speed. 

The walking-priority parameter options include “as little walking as possible” as a first option, 10- and 20-minute walk-time maximums, and finally, surfacing walking as an option for all O/D pairs. 

"Settings and accessibility" 

Users can select "Show accessibility info" to display whether vehicles and stops are wheelchair accessible. To surface results in the trip planner that are exclusively accessible, users can select "Show accessible trips first." 

Lines that have a colour in their name (e.g. STM Orange Line) can have the color written out, which can help people with visual impairments.  

GO mode: step-by-step navigation 

Users can also tap GO to navigate with step-by-step audio instructions throughout their journey, including when their stop is approaching. In particular, visually-impaired people have expressed how helpful Transit’s GO mode is in navigating public transit, as it can provide contextual instructions by audio prompt as the user makes their journey. 

Screen readers 

Transit is compatible with both major mobile OS screen readers, VoiceOver (iOS) and TalkBack (Android). To navigate a screen, users can select an element, wait for it to be read aloud, then double-tap to select it. Information such as route names, stops, and trip duration are condensed into clear sentences to optimize the user experience. Transit has a dedicated group of visually-impaired beta testers who assist Transit in locating bugs related to screen readers and provide feedback on features.